This invention relates to sporting and athletic devices for sensing impact on a target and for reporting the sensed impact without interference with impact reports of other proximate targets.
The invention is useful in an impact sensor capable of operation proximate to other like sensors, as on adjacent tennis courts, without operational frequency. The invention is also useful in an impact sensor having two or more zones; for example, different zones in a baseball pitching sensor.
A sports impact sensor typically has an input detector exposed to impact at a target location and spaced from the user, and has an indicator located at the user or a further location. Signals conducted on wires or broadcast through the air communicate impact response signals from the sensor to the indicator.
It is known to use a piezo film to sense impact in sporting and athletic devices as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,824,107 of French, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by this reference. Piezo film is manufactured and marketed, for example, under the trademark Kynar by Elf Atochem Sensors, Inc. in Valley Forge, Pa., USA.
It is an object of this invention to provide an impact sensor for sporting and athletic use proximate to like sensors without operational interference.
Another object of the invention is to provide an impact sensor of the above character suitable for use with a target having two or more zones.
A further object is to provide impact sensor apparatus of the above character suited for relatively low cost manufacture and marketing.